Complaints filed against five advertisements during November-December 2009 have been upheld by Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), the apex regulatory body of the advertising industry.

The list includes the TV commercial of Nazar Raksha Yantra by Telemax, which was being run on India TV during November 2009. The TVC showed people getting affected by the evil eye and the 'Yantra' being used to ward off its effects. The advertisement was complained to be unscientific and baseless. CCC has sustained the complaint and the advertiser has discontinued airing the commercial.

& #BANNER1 & #Second in the list is the ad of Infomedia 18 Limited in the August 2009 issue of Overdrive magazine. The advertorial has used a picture of a Range Rover vehicle. It has been complained that the advertiser has tampered with the image of the vehicle and has used the trademark of Tata without Tata's permission. Following CCC's ruling against the advertisement, the media has assured not to repeat the advertorial.

The council has also disapproved the advertisement by United Spirits (Antiquity), where a strip ad mentions, 'Antiquity Music CDs'. The council finds this to be a surrogate advertisement for a liquor product. The ad has been withdrawn.

The advertisement for Punjab Jeweller's 'Umeed se 10 guna' scheme, which appeared on The Times of India, Indore Plus, Dainik Bhaskar, Indore, Agnibaan, Indore, Patrika Indore and Patrika, Bhopal during November-December 2009 has been objected to by ASCI. It was complained that the advertiser had released the advertisement offering a weekly jackpot prize of a Tata Nano car and has used a picture of the car in the advertisement, despite Tata Motor's specific denial of permission and rejection of a proposal by the advertiser.

On receiving the complainant's letter objecting to the word 'Nano', the advertiser has removed the word from its ad.

Furthermore, ASCI has also upheld the complaints against the advertisement by Tata Teleservices (Tata Indicom Digital Clarity) on Neo Sports during December 2009, which shows a fish gasping for breath out of water. According to ASCI, the ad is in breach of the law as the advertiser has not obtained an NOC from the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI). Also, it has objected to the visual of the fish gasping for breath on the ground of its potential to cause grave or widespread offence among viewers. The advertiser has modified the commercial, omitting the objectionable scene even before receiving the decision of the CCC.

For the records, the Advertising Standards Council of India is a self regulatory voluntary organisation of the advertising industry. ASCI and its Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) deals with complaints received from consumers and industry against advertisements which are considered false, misleading, indecent, illegal, leading to unsafe practices or unfair to competition, and consequently in contravention of the ASCI Code for Self-Regulation in Advertising.